


The Universe Hates Paradoxes

by SilverWolfCub



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: End Game Fix-It, I know I'm late, Time Shenanigans, Time Stone, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26701945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWolfCub/pseuds/SilverWolfCub
Summary: Thanos died before he ever got the stones. What does that mean?End Game Fix it that I wrote the day after I watched the movie but never posted.
Relationships: Tony Stark & Stephen Strange
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	The Universe Hates Paradoxes

**Author's Note:**

> I was never gonna post this but I just reread it and why not? Also I wish there was more Dr. Strange and Tony Stark interaction that would've been great.

Unlike the others huddled in close around Tony, Dr. Stephen Strange stood slightly farther away, watching the event with somber eyes. He bowed his head when the billionaire finally passed, wishing that the outcome wouldn’t end this way. He felt a pang of guilt rush through him. He could’ve stopped this, but doing so would’ve ended in the deaths of so many others. It was his burden to bare.

It was when everything went silent that he felt it. It was a nagging feeling, like something small and sharp was pricking at the back of his head. He twitched, frowning, but the feeling did not stop. After a moment, a rush of heat emitted from the base of his neck, circling around before stopping directly on top of where he normally kept the time stone. As the warmth settled there, it didn’t cool, but instead grew warmer until it burned.

Dr. Strange tried to ignore it, watching as those around him started picking up pieces of a life long left behind. As he watched, though, those around him seemed to… glitch about, almost as if phasing in and out of reality.

The time stone hadn’t shown him this before. What was this?

His hand came up to subconsciously clutched the eye that was no longer around his neck. The burning sensation leaked into his hand for a moment before disappearing. He pulled his hand back, half expecting it to start phasing in and out like the people around him.

When it didn’t, he let it fall down to his side. He really should help clean up this entire mess. Or maybe he could command the armies waiting for orders, get them back to where they’re supposed to be. He really should just do something, anything.

Why wasn’t he moving?

He had to put in a lot of effort to move his foot forward, and even with his willpower it all felt slow. The burning on his chest seemed to heat up even more, and he wondered briefly why he couldn’t feel the pain of it. Or maybe feel wasn’t the right word. He felt the pain of it, all right, but it didn’t hurt, per se. It was as if his brain was in an entirely different human then he was in.

Then one of the other mages asked him a question, and everything snapped back into place. People stopped phasing, the burning ceased, and his gait had turned back to normal. He looked around, slightly confused, before the mage reiterated the question.

He answered, directing him towards Wong, but he wasn’t really paying attention. While he didn’t have a single idea as to what happened, he did have enough clues to make one up. Obviously, it had something to do with the time stone, based on the spot where the burn sat and on how everyone phased and glitch about. It was exactly how he saw each version of the future five years ago. The question was, why?

That could be simple, depending on the way he went about it. Unlike the sorcerers that came before him, he enjoyed using and learning more about the Eye and the stone it held instead of just protecting it. Maybe, through the not constant but scattered use of it he’s created a link between him and the stone. What that meant for him, he doesn’t know. The stone was destroyed, so why does he still feel it?

He thought about that when he went home that night, sore and exhausted from the battle before and the cleanup after. He felt physically, mentally, and magically drained, and was probably going to sleep for two days straight if he could. It was unlikely he could be gone for that long without someone asking for him, but he’d give it a shot.

He had, surprisingly, slept into the day after the next by the time he was woken up. He wasn’t woken up by anyone, instead gaining consciousness from the uncomfortable feeling in his chest. The burning had come back.

He groaned, dragging himself out of bed and going to shower. At the beginning of his journey, it was really hard to do the more precise things in his morning routine, due to his hands, but once he learned more magic it became easier then it had before. Due to that, his routine had been cut in time, and now he was out even faster. It was a good thing, too, since the burning in his chest seemed to be getting worse.

Deciding that he really needed to get this checked out, he left his room before pausing. Beyond his door, reality had bended. Not like it did before, where he controlled it. No, this reality was more… transparent. Just like before, people moving around seemed to phase in and out of place, but this time nonliving things joined them, cars and buildings and roads flashing in and out of existence. Things that didn’t disappear seemed to be more see through than usual. Not to mention that the sky and ground were both pitch black.

Okay… he  _ really _ needed to get this checked out.

He stepped back inside, thankful that at least his place seemed to be more or less solid. He savored it for a moment before creating a portal to where Wong normally hung out. The portal appeared before him, and he sighed. At least that was working.

As he walked towards the portal, though, the burning on his chest increased tenfold, and he gasped, reeling back in shock before landing in his bed. The portal disappeared, taking the extreme burning feeling with it.

He stayed on his bed for a while, trying to focus on his breathing. The burning had shimmered down, but it was still close to the point of being unbearable, and Stephen was starting to panic.

When he finally got back up he left, hoping that someone speaking to him outside would do what it did last time and break whatever trick his brain was playing on him. Instead, he learned that when he started walking a certain way, his chest stopped burning as badly, but when he walked any other way, the pain got worse.

“Where are you trying to lead me?” He murmured into the wind, wishing his cape was back to shield him. The streets were crowded, people who’ve been missing for years reuniting with their loved ones all around them. Stephen just wished they hogged up less of the sidewalk.

His guided walk took him a bit of a distance, and it would’ve taken longer if he didn’t realize that yes, he can portal places, they just had to be closer to where he was going. So a few calculations with portals and a few hours of random walking later, he had finally arrived at a park. A quaint place, but Strange had no idea as to why the burning had sent him there. It was the place, since the burning had cooled completely into nothing.

After a few aimless minutes of walking around the park, he stumbled upon a few of the Avengers, setting something up with the Captain holding what looked to be the past infinity stones. Strange watched from afar as they looked to be preparing to send him back in time. Most likely to put the stones back in their regular spots in time.

The burning started back up once the Captain was gone, but it only got worse when the Captain didn’t return. He made his presence known to the others there by falling to the ground, silenced by the burning which had reached unbearable levels.

“Uh, what’s growing on your neck?” Sam asked, wary as he gestured towards the Doctor’s chest. Strange glanced down, eyes widening in surprise as what looked to be the Eye forming on his chest, time stone and all, melting into the world like it had been there all along. “Is that-“ 

“That’s the time stone.” Stephen wheezed out, surprised and almost horrified by the implications. After he gave the stone to Thanos, it was destroyed. Of course, if Thanos was killed before he ever got the time stone, then Stephen would still have the stone. But that would have so many implications on the world around them, and if he still had the stone then that meant-

The Eye finished forming, and suddenly there was a tight tug in his stomach. A wave of nausea overcame him, and he screwed his eyes shut, attempting not to vomit. Sam’s grip on him disappeared, and he suddenly crashed into something wooden. He stayed still, waiting for the effects of whatever happened to fade off before getting up.

He was in the New York sanctuary, before the Hulk had crashed into it. He took a few staggering steps forward, looking around the place that had been half destroyed last time it. He almost didn’t notice when his cape flew over, landing comfortably on his back like it normally did.

He rubbed the fabric subconsciously, and the shake it did that was equivalent to a purr finally snapped him out of it. He jumped up and away from the cape, but since it was a cape it just followed like normal. He stilled himself, trying not to confuse it. Something had happened, when the Captain went into the past, just like something had happened when Tony passed.

Or maybe it wasn’t something that happened because of that, but it was something that happened because of what they did.

He checked the time and date. It was after Dormmomu, thankfully, but it was before Thanos ever showed up. In fact, he could guess that he had landed somewhere right before the Norse Gods’ Ragnarok occurred. If his theory on time being the biggest factor in all of this was true, what happened when Tony died and when Steve went back that was so important?

It came to him only a moment later, hitting him suddenly. Of course, Tony had killed Thanos. And as Strange thought before, if he killed Thanos before he ever got the time stone, then the time stone would end up back with him, since it was the last place it ever was. But one of the biggest things he decided not to think upon loomed right in front of him. Before he had all of the infinity stones, Thanos couldn’t snap away half of the population. If Thanos died before he snapped, then he would’ve never snapped in the first place, and the timeline, desperate to fix itself, would completely destroy the future where that did happen, starting back over at around the time Thanos was killed.

That seemed like a good line of thought to go through, except for that fact that where Strange was right now wasn’t the exact moment that Thanos went into the future and died. And of course if Thanos died beforehand and never did the snap then the Avengers would never try to stop him which in itself should let him achieve his goal which would make the avengers go after him again. All together, it would create a paradox, and from what Dr. Strange has gleaned from the time stone, the universe hates a paradox. It would destroy the problem all together.

Several thoughts came to mind all at once, and he suddenly bolted from the sanctuary. The Avengers were all split up, still, but from what the doctor could see all around him, no one was in panic of being pulled back a few years. No one even seemed to realize that anything like that had happened.

He made a portal, jumping through and landing in the Avengers warehouse. Immediately, the alarms went off, and when it was the billionaire himself that turned them off, he started getting a clue as to what was happening. “Tony Stark.”

“Stephen Strange.” Tony replied. “See, I can do names, too. Now, care to explain why you’re here when last reports have you destroying your life as you try to fix your hands? And what’s with the light show?”

He hadn’t known the man for long, but damn if he wasn’t happy he was back. “Nevermind all that. Do you remember Thanos?”

Something small flickered in his eyes, but only for a second. It was gone before Strange could figure it out, and Tony frowned. “No, who’s Thanos? A threat?” He turned guarded.

“Don’t worry about him.” Strange breathed, turning around. “He’s dead.”

He created a portal to leave, ignoring Tony’s sharp intake of air and questioning as he stepped through and closed it quickly behind him. He knew that the billionaire would be looking for him in a short time, if only because he was strange and Tony would be curious. He’d probably find out where Strange was set up from video feeds, and if he was really into it then Strange wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight. He does not know the man personally, but he understands him enough to predict him.

But what he wanted figured out was. If anyone was going to remember what happened, then it’d be him, as he was the last one in contact with them all. Strange exhaled through his nose. He seems to be the only one.

He was happy, no doubt. Everyone was back, and no one had to remember the trauma that came with it. Of course, some people who met before won’t meet now, but that was the price of the timeline fixing itself. That did not mean, though, that time won’t find a way to make it as close as possible to the original events. And, in the doctor’s experience with the time stone, he’s started to understand that there is sentience in the stones. Which means there’s sentience in time itself.

He spent the rest of the day, until Tony finally came knocking, trying to figure out what exactly this reset meant as a whole. By the time he answered the door and invited Tony inside, he hadn’t gotten any closer to understanding.

“For a wizard with ‘infinite’ magic you do sure seem to frown a lot.” Tony commented after Strange explained who he was. “And what do you glorified magicians do anyway? Perform at parties?”

He didn’t bother commenting, instead looking outside. Again, the last time he saw this place people and things were phasing in and out of time, and the time before that the city was in ruins. He could see a couple walking their dog a few yards away. It was peaceful, nice.

“Hey, your cape is-“ Tony just now seemed to realize that Stephen was somewhere else. “Hey, dude, you're listening to me, right?”

Strange hummed, before looking over. “Yes, yes I am.” He looked back outside. It was cloudy outside, and most everyone else was inside. Even with the sad weather, the city looked beautiful, prettier than Stephen’s ever seen. Maybe he was the only one who remembered. Maybe there was a reason for that. “I just have other things on my mind.”

Whatever it was, he’s relieved it ended this way.

“Oh, I’m offended.” Tony scoffed. “I should be the only thing on your mind.” He ended, and Strange laughed for the first time in years.

**Author's Note:**

> I love a happy ending


End file.
